Shakotan Town is a ski area in Hokkaido, Japan, on slopes between roughly 11 and 120 m. Its mapped area is about 0.5 km across.
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 303 cm of snowfall a season, 148th of the 397 ski areas we measure in Japan. Its winters are fairly steady; even the leanest, 2019/20 (235 cm), reached 78% of the average. January is usually the snowiest month, with about 90 cm. Snowfall days average −2.7 °C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 111th of 397 in Japan.
The nearest city of any size is Sapporo, about 64 km away. Below is a link to its official live camera.
Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear here once snow starts to fall. Until then, the long-run record comes first.
Elevation range is estimated by sampling points across the ski area.
How much snow it gets
Measured by us across 3,069 ski areas by one identical method. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score deliberately excludes how much snow falls — it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind. Snowing a lot and snowing well are different things.
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km straight line. Measured the same way, so the ranks compare directly. Ski areas a few kilometres apart share a weather grid cell and can return the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consadole Niki Ski Park | 22 km | 248 cm | 748 |
| Otaru Tenguyama Ski Area | 33 km | 293 cm | 507 |
| Asarigawa Onsen Ski Resort | 38 km | 293 cm | 507 |
| Kiroro Resort | 40 km | 331 cm | 351 |
| Iwanai Resort | 40 km | 373 cm | 219 |
When it falls, and how winters differ
Month by month
Month by month, the most snow falls in January. March brings 60% of January’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%). In amount, March brings 54 cm, more than the median of 46 cm.
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 303 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 235 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 362 cm (1.5 times as much).
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
Live Cameras
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.
Road conditions decide whether you can get there at all. Check before you leave.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Hot springs nearby, as analysed
2 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 50 °C).
| Source | Distance | Temperature | pH | Type | Analysed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 美国美国温泉2号 | 0.9 km | 40℃ warm | 7 neutral | — | — |
| 古平古平温泉 | 3.2 km | 50℃ hot | 7.6 mildly alkaline | — | — |
These are analyses of hot spring sources, not a list of baths you can visit. They date from 1910 to 2005, many from decades ago, so today’s temperature and chemistry may differ. Names are as recorded in Japanese. Temperature and pH bands follow Japan’s standard for analysing hot springs.
Source: processed from the hot spring analysis data in the Geothermal Information Database (GRES-DB), Geological Survey of Japan, AIST
Worth seeing nearby
Places within 20 km of this ski area, for a day off the slopes or an evening. Chosen from those most read about on Wikipedia, favouring places with an English Wikipedia article, and listed nearest first.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| ローソク岩 | Nature | 10.6 km |
| Cape Shakotan積丹岬 | Nature | 14.4 km |
| Yoichi distillery余市蒸溜所 | Landmark | 19.1 km |
Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map
Where it sits relative to nearby resorts. For a piste map, see the official site.
Places to stay nearby
3 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within 3 km of this ski area, listed cheapest first.
| Property | From | Rating | Distance | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 海鮮の宿 みはらし荘 | ¥8,000 | 4.47 102 reviews | 1.7 km | 小樽駅よりバスにて６０分 |
| お宿 かさい | ¥19,000 | 4.60 48 reviews | 0.7 km | 余市駅/小樽より１時間１０分 |
| 旅館 美国観光ハウス | ¥36,905 | 5.00 77 reviews | 0.9 km | JR函館本線 余市駅/小樽より車で６０分・中央バス美国停留所より徒歩２分 |
Contains advertising · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Stay nearby
5 places within 12 km of the slopes. Most of them do not take online bookings — open the map for contact details.
Nearest: 0.9 km
Nearest first
- 美国観光 Hotel 0.9 km
- Miharashi Hotel 1.6 km
- Hori ryokan Hotel 3.2 km
- 中央旅館 Hotel 4 km
- Refore Shakotan Youth Hostel Hostel 5.8 km
Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap
More places to look
Guides covering Hokkaido
- A Historic El Niño Is Forecast. Here Is What the Last Big One Did to Japan's Snow. NOAA gives a very strong El Niño better than a 90% chance this winter. We measured every Japanese ski area across the last 12 winters: El Niño winters ran 88% of normal, and the strongest of the twelve left Japan at 63%. But Hakuba held 92% of its average that winter while Niseko fell to 57%.
- Which Famous Ski Resorts Actually Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, Measured Niseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
- Australia Just Had Its Worst Season in Twenty Years. Here Is What Japan's 12-Winter Record Says About Booking It Instead. Snow depth at Spencers Creek peaked at 94.5 cm, the third lowest since 1954, and resorts closed in August. Our own measure — snowfall, not depth — puts Australia at 50% of its 12-year average. The gap between those two numbers is the story: it was the warmth, not only the lack of snow. New Zealand, meanwhile, finished at 108% of normal.
Updated: 8 Oct 2026, 00:52